Trick or Treat

What fabulous weather for trick or treating. About 60 degrees and sunny. And not having to push the clocks back yet, still light out. My friend, Lorrie, brought her kids, Alaina and Evan, over for trick or treating. This is the first year we actually went in our own neighborhood. And they made quite the haul!! Lily was a pirate girl--who wanted to be a shark, but the costume didn't fit her so I left Evan wear it!! She would tell people that whole story when they asked her what she was going to be for Halloween. Brody was Roo from Winnie the Pooh, and Xavier was a lion. Lily and Brody both had parties at daycare so they had bags of candy before we even hit the streets. I took Brody and Xavier just to our neighbor, Jean's house. She always gives them something extra special. She was so sweet. She just found out about Xavier the day before but had a bag full of Matchbox cars for him. He was very excited. So after that one stop w/ the whole gang--Brody and Xavier stayed home to pass out candy with Grandma Nan.

The rest of us walked around the corner--into the "fancy" neighborhood! :-) I was shocked at how many cars there were parked there--people bringing their kids to trick or treat there. I was also amazed at the full size candy bars and bags of Skittles. Lily and Evan had to run to every house and see who could get their first. Lily started off wearing her eye patch, but I was so nervous b/c I knew she was having problems seeing, so I was glad when she took it off. We only went to the streets around the corner from us, but that was enough to fill everyone's buckets.

And now, a day later, I think Lily has only eaten 2 pieces of candy and they were gummy cats or something like that. I just wish Dan and I could say the same!! :) Happy Halloween everyone!

“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower”

Thursday, Oct. 30th, we all stayed home to get to know Xavier as a family. It was a lot of fun. Very overwhelming. I was telling Dan that I thought the noise level would go up, but didn't think it would triple!! :-) But we are assuming this will be the loudest day, because all 3 of them were just crazy!! Xavier was running everywhere in the house, discovering all of the toys, the cats, the refrigerator, etc. And Lily was right with him being the tour guide and the boss of the toys. Giving him specific instructions on how to use the toys, when they can be used, and much more. Definitely being the big sister. Brody was a little confused as to why this other kid was sitting by his daddy and didn't seem to be leaving. And now 2 days later, still not sure what Brody is thinking, but he can say Xavier's name.

We spent sometime outside playing with the leaves. I am sure Xavier never did that before, and he had a ball jumping in the big pile with Lily. Brody was keeping his distance, he just wanted to swing on the swingset. Xavier really liked the slides, but didn't try the swing until today. He started with squeals of delight as I was pushing him, but quickly turned to squeals of terror. I am guessing he had never been on a swing before, and I am not sure what scared him, but I started over going very slow, and then he got used to going higher and didn't want to stop.

We also took all 3 kids grocery shopping. I have realized that I would never be able to do it all by myself at this point, but Dan and I together did it fine.

Thursday night, Xavier had visitors, when his cousins, Nate and Noah, came over along with Tammy and Dean. They had such a good time and totally wore all the kids out!!

Well, I will add more about Halloween in a little bit. Lily and Xavier are napping, but Brody wants me to dance to an Elmo video for him! It is fun!! :0)

--Teri